Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-04-03

dit from Il he found that il really was
carved. as With kfiife-point He took
the And home, washed Il carefully, and
10 his surprise found the opposite side
also carved, but not 40 deeply. Mr..
Jhoen brought the tablet down town,
and kindly left it at the Register Office,
Tins giving all who heard Of il an OPP
uortunity 10 sec and decipher il, Of
which chance scores took advantage.
The upper side bore the Inscription
got al Of tho gold We could carry our ponys all
rot BY the indians have Iost my gun and no
ming TO cat and Indisns hunting me
And the reverse side:
Came to the Hills in is q s sr, no, Of os
De Lacompte al ded put mo
Esra Kind Ezra KIDD
q w Wood 49,. - - -
n Brown Killed by Ind beyond
II Kent the high Hill got all our
VIM King goic June l&f
The first date ON the latter side is
ploip. while the third figure in the last,
under glass, looks like faulty 5,
though to the naked eye il appears TO
bea9. Come doubt as TO the genuine
ness of the tablet is expressed, on the
ground that the art Of separating gold
from gravel, or placcr-mining, was not
known ut that date also, that it is pre-.
posterous to believe that seven men
could in one or two seasons take out all
the gold they could carry. 1t is more
than probable that the dates are meant
for 1853 and 1854, though we are told
that Father dc Smet acknowledged to
having seen gold from the Black
Hills as far back as 1923 In the
early parts of the fifties several par
ties bound for California passed to the
westward and in sight of the Hills. In
1857 Mr.. A. j. Poznansky, then boy
in Omaha, saw and talked with two
Wtlshmen who had been picked up in
this vicinity by returning party of
Californians, being the survivors of q
squad Of nine they had with them
Sc, 600 in Black-H Hills gold. Before that
the Sioux had frequently sold gold to
Missouri-river captains, carrying the
same in buckskin bags such as are used
by white men, but would not tell
where or how they got it, sim
ply pointing westward. About the
same time one De Gray, in
conversation with Mr.. Kingsbury, said
he knew OF place in the Black Hills
where gold could be had in abundance,
describing the place so accurately that
Mr.. Kingsbury readily recognized it
more than twenty years afterward in
the locality covered by two of the rich
est claims on Sand creek. These facts
prove that il was not impossible for the
party to have taken out call the gold
they could carry" which, under the
circumstances, would not be more
than twenty-five or thirty points,
or $1,000 to $4,000 apiece. It is pre-
sumable that their Indian guide would
take them to the richer pockets known
to his people. In 1S7G-'77 one man on
French creek took out little over &c.
eco in 1S77-'7S another one in Rocker
vile washed out with a rocker between
SO, 0O0 and $4,000; several claims in
Deadwood gulch, at least two claims on
Gold run, and one on Bobtail, to our
personal knowledge, were rich enough
to have yielded the quantity of gold
named in the time given. In 1879 we
saw four pounds OF coarse gold taken
from an abandoned claim on Gold run
in a short day by two not over-industri-
Gus boys. 1t was from just such rich
pockets or deposits that the Indians got
their gold.
The draw in which the tablet was
concealed is admirably adapted for
concealment from pursuers, being six
or eight feet deep at the point OF dis
covery, the banks rising to height Of
twenty TO twenty-five feet nearer the
foot of the hill, and covered with 8
heavy growth of brush, q steen natural
pus u. leading down from ''beyond the
high hill"
Mr.. r. II. Evans and a party of the
Montahians who first settled in the val
ley found a number of camp utensils
cached or buried on Lookout not far
from the above point, frying-pan and
knife being in O good state OF preser-
walton, though bearing evidence OF
having been buried there for years.
Down the SpearAsh, in plain sight OF
Lookout, was one of the favorite camp
ing grounds OF the Indians, who would
naturally be in this vicinity IN June,
when deer and antelope would be album
dsnt in the neighboring valleys. Ever
on the alert, they would readily detect
the presence Of o small party OF the
hated white men, which, once discov-
cred, could scarcely hope for escape.
The tablet is the most valuable as
well as the most interesting discovery
yet made in the Hills, giving as it does
clews that may lead to more knowledge
of the unfortunate men whose melan-
choly fate is recorded.